The lineage of the old war horse Stevens runs as follows:
He was the great grandson of Jonathan Stevens of Connecticut. Nicholas Hendricus, oldest son of Jonathan, born November 10th, 1697, married, May 29th, 1730, Maria Phoenix. They had several children, but all died young and unmarried, except Arent and Johannes.
Arent, the oldest son of Nicholas Hendricus, married, November 20th, 1768, Jennetje DeSpitzer. He died in 1784, leaving surviving him the following named children:
Jonathan, born January 27th, 1770.
Thomas, born March 22d, 1772.
Margaret, born May 18th, 1777.
Maria, born December 31st, 1780.
Hendricus, born April 27th, 1782.
Nicholas, born February 26th, 1783, after his father's decease, and died in Schenectady, 18th of October, 1863.
Arent, second son of Jonathan, born July 26th, 1702, married, first, January 3d, 1726, Maria, daughter of William Hall; she died December 23d, 1739, aged forty-two years. He married, secondly, February 4th, 1749, Mary Griffiths, widow of Lieutenant Thomas Burrows of the British army; she died July 2d, 1794, aged seventy-five years. Arent, himself, died May 15th, 1753. He owned lands, and for some time resided at Canajoharie. He often acted as Indian interpreter, and was also employed by Sir William Johnson in negotiations with the different tribes.
Captain Jonathan Stevens, the oldest son of Arent, born December 1st, 1726, was killed at the battle of Lake George, September 8th, 1755, a few miles from the fort, in a disastrous ambuscade, where the noble King Hendrick, the chivalric and generous Colonel Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College, and the brave Captains McGinnis and Stevens, both of Schenectady, fell almost side by side.
It was of the two last that Sir William Johnson, in his official report of the battle and the capture of Baron Dieskaw, wrote: "Maginnis and Stevens fought like lions." Captain Jonathan was only twenty-eight years old when he so desperately lost his life, and was unmarried.
Arent's other children were named as follows:
Catarina, born August 1st, 1729, died August 27th, 1790.
William, born September 10th, 1732.
Nicholas, born November 14th, 1734.
Johannes, born July 31st, 1736.
Jacobus, born December 13th, 1739.
Second set of children:
Maria, born October 20th, 1750, married John Stuart.
Richard, born December 10th, 1752, died in 1800.
Anna, born April 22d, 1755, married Philip Frankel.